1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related generally to a server system. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a computer-implemented method, apparatus, and computer-usable program code for reporting operating system events on an IPMI compliant server.
2. Description of the Related Art
Server system management is used primarily for monitoring the health of a system, reporting current states and alerting of problems. In an Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) server, system management is performed by a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC). The Baseboard Management Controller monitors many components directly mounted on the server motherboard or adapter cards connected to the motherboard, and can also be used by other component firmware to pass events to a host management controller. A motherboard is the main circuit board in a data processing system. The motherboard houses a variety of microchips, sockets, and plugs, and plays an integral part in connecting all of a data processing system together. An event is a condition detected by a sensor, usually indicating that a problem has occurred.
In a blade center, the host management controller would be the Management Module (MM). Blade centers are self-contained computer servers, designed for high density. Blade centers have several servers, or blades, mounted in the center with one or more centralized Management Modules that monitor and control the individual blades, I/O switches, power, cooling, etc. The individual blade servers are sometimes referred to as field replaceable units (FRUs) because they can be quickly and easily removed and replaced by the user or by a technician without having to send the entire blade center to a repair facility. In other rack mounted type server systems, the host management controller could be implemented in any one of the servers or in a separate data processing system connected to the rack mounted server system. In other types of servers, the host management controller is part of a designated server within the server system.
The events that can generate an alert are defined in the Intelligent Platform Management Interface specification and are critical to the monitoring, maintenance, performance, and reliability of the server. An alert is the mechanism for reporting an event.
Although there are many standard entities defined for the Baseboard Management Controller to monitor and generate an alert, there are no entities defined for reporting operating system (OS) software events, such as informational, warnings, faults, and so forth. The reporting of operating system related events can be invaluable for system operators performing server system management, especially remotely through a host management controller. Currently the only way for a user or operator to know about an operating system event is to have the operating system visible and react on any events the operating system detects and reports through the operating system's own user interface or a command line.